I am absolutely delighted to be showcasing The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson on Books, Life and Everything today. It is superb. The first of his Hidden Iceland series, it is a fantastic piece of Icelandic Noir.
Before Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement she is told to investigate a cold case of her choice, and she knows just the one. A young woman found dead on remote seaweed-covered rocks. A woman who was looking for asylum and found only a watery grave. Her death ruled a suicide after a cursory investigation.
But Hulda soon realises that that there was something far darker to this case. This was not the only young woman to disappear around that time. And no one is telling the whole story.
When her own force tries to put the brakes on the investigation, Hulda has just days to discover the truth. Even if it means risking her own life...
My Thoughts
This is a book which I have been savouring and saving up to read, such was my anticipation. I loved the Dark Iceland Series and the wonderful Ari Thor. It didn't take me long to realise that Ragnar has done it again and created a wonderful central character. So different to Ari Thor but just as unforgettable. I was intrigued to see that although The Darkness is the first in the new Hidden Iceland Series, the trilogy is to be written in reverse order. The Darkness is set in 2012, with The Island and The Mist occurring years earlier.
As in all his novels, Iceland, its geography and climate dominate the story, always inextricably linked into the narrative. This is a chilling story reflected in the inhospitable terrain. The weather and the darkness seem to envelop the characters at times, isolating them and leaving them vulnerable and on edge. It is a well-crafted plot. All the time we feel Hulda's fear of time passing as she races the clock to crack the case. I read the book in one day, because I just had to find out how it was going to end. When I did, I was beyond stunned! It has the most shocking outcome I think I have ever read. Fact.
In short: peerless writing and thrilling nordic noir.
About the Author
Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jónasson was born in Reykjavík, and currently works as a lawyer, while teaching copyright law at the Reykjavík University
Law School. In the past, he’s worked in TV and radio, including
as a newsreporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.
Before embarking on a writing career, Ragnar translated fourteen Agatha
Christie novels into Icelandic, and has had several short stories
published in German, English and Icelandic literary magazines. Ragnar set
up the first overseas chapter of the CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) in Reykjavík, and is co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Iceland Noir. Ragnar’s debut thriller Snowblind
became an almost instant bestseller when it was published in June 2015,
with Nightblind (winner of theDead Good Reads Most Captivating Crime in
Translation Award) and then Blackout following soon after. To date, Ragnar Jónasson has written five novels in the Dark Iceland series, which has been optioned for TV by On the Corner, and had rights sold in fourteen countries. He lives in Reykjavík with his wife and two daughters.
Thanks to Ragnar Jónasson, and Laura Nicol of Penguin Books for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
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